Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
‘With truth and confidence, seeking union,
No mistake.
With truth and confidence to overflow the vessel
An end comes – further good fortune.’
Hexagram 8, line 1
‘A cup of wine, a pair of dishes,
Using earthenware.
Let in with ropes from the window.
In the end, no mistake.’
Hexagram 29, line 4
‘In the clear light of the setting sun,
If not beating a pot and singing,
Then you will be making the lament of great old age.
Pitfall.’
Hexagram 30, line 3
‘With truth and confidence, seeking union,
No mistake.
With truth and confidence to overflow the vessel
An end comes – further good fortune.’
‘A cup of wine, a pair of dishes,
Using earthenware.
Let in with ropes from the window.
In the end, no mistake.’
‘In the clear light of the setting sun,
If not beating a pot and singing,
Then you will be making the lament of great old age.
Pitfall.’
Interesting, too, to see the pairing and opposition of 29 and 30 with 8 standing out from the crowd in between the two. It may be that the 'simple earthen pot' is analagous with the holy grail which is at the root of many a quest for full union. The 29 and 30 could well represent thesis and antithesis and 8 the synthesis.Also, the three lines share and develop a theme. In 8.1, the jar brim-full of trust is the very beginning of ‘Seeking Union’ – of people belonging together. In 29.4, the jar let in through the window is part of making a connection, overcoming the isolation of the zhi gua 47. And 30.3 can be about overcoming loneliness. Wine vessel or drum, the fou is about deep connection.
Yes and... it also changes into something shaped like a cup or basket .With Gua (hexagram) 29's fourth line moving, the upper trigram Water changes to Lake; which suggests that by 'feeding' what causes imbalance - perhaps our fears or sadness that are keeping us captive - we can change these pit-like feelings into joy and joyful communication (aspects of trigram Lake); and we do this in practical, down-to-Earth(enware) ways: as we might hand someone food and drink through a window - or the bars of a prison cell.
Yes, indeed, I hadn't thought about this as I am not a particularly religious person. This is mostly contained within Catholic beliefs I believe. Lots of deep religious concepts like 'transubstantiation' ( bread and wine= body and blood of Christ) included in the ritual. In essence though as I understand things the main aspects symbolised by partaking of holy communion (The Eucharist) are:Interesting the Christian religion has the ritual of drinking from a shared cup to symbolize communion.
Rutt talks a lot about the Jesuit missionary obsession with 15, which they somehow saw as epitomizing the Christian ethos. I can't quite see it, but ...There is a book titled Secrets of the I Ching by Joseph Murphey. The author has tried to match each of the hexagrams and lines with a passage from the Bible. I find most of his correlations rather far fetched but still it's an interesting exercise and also interesting to see how the same ideas appear in the different philosophies.
Incidentally, I also read a study that compared the core teachings of about ten of the main religions. The result was that while not all the religions have the same teachings, one thing they all share is a belief in is the importance of honoring the father and mother - aka, the 'ancestors.'
Rutt also makes reference to the early meaning of qian being 'deference and appropriate behaviour' rather than humility or modesty. He then goes on (p61) to define humility as ' interior self-denial' which is a definition I struggle with. Humility isn't a denial of self more a freedom from pride or arrogance which for me aligns well with 'deference and appropriate behaviour' .Rutt talks a lot about the Jesuit missionary obsession with 15, which they somehow saw as epitomizing the Christian ethos. I can't quite see it, but ...
Rutt
Rutt also makes reference to the early meaning of qian being 'deference and appropriate behaviour' rather than humility or modesty. He then goes on (p61) to define humility as ' interior self-denial' which is a definition I struggle with. Humility isn't a denial of self more a freedom from pride or arrogance which for me aligns well with 'deference and appropriate behaviour' .
A synonym for humble is 'meek' and a key tenet in the Christian ethos is ' The meek shall inherit the earth.' This may be a part of where the Jesuit obsession stemmed from. Meekness is a quality, based in it's Greek roots, of “strength under control.” The ancient Greeks, I read somewhere, trained their war horses to be meek i.e. strong and powerful yet easily controllable and willing to submit (without ego - free from pride and arrogance?).
I find it perplexing therefore that Rutt call hex 15 Rat - a symbol of wealth and surplus in China. There may be more about this animal representation but it does seem counter intuitive . I know Karcher also relates 15 to a rodent. This one resides in the liminal realms and cuts through the 'pride and complication of an over-developed ego' so maybe this is a better reference point. If I sit with Rutts Hex 15, even after poring over his notes, I remain unclear about what this hexagram is saying to us or what he is saying about the hexagram. But that is taking us off topic and into Jesuit / Rutt World not Three Pots Land.
I think I'll look for an image of a Greek War Horse.When I was looking for a visual image to express Modesty, I did look at pictures of rats and guinea pigs, but nothing really worked. But I found an image of turtledove, which is indeed a modest and charming little creature, so I went with that.
I have started a thread for exploring Hex 15 some more. Finding the Greek War Horse analogy really insightful. Maybe the Greeks trained their hamsters in the same way !!!I'm not worried about threads going off topic if you're not.
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).